On Obama’s last day of office, his administration approved a sale of $418 million in U.S. weapons to Kenya that is getting some unwanted attention by lawmakers.
January 19th, Obama’s State Department approved the sale of 14 war planes to the country of Kenya to help them fight the terrorist group al-Shabaab.
Ted Budd, a Republican from North Carolina and several other lawmakers are shedding light on the last minute deal and raising questions.
The North Carolina representative questions why L3 Technologies won the contract even though they have never made the type of planes ordered. Budd insists that a company in North Carolina can make the planes and they have already made the planes at a lower cost in the past.
Budd and several others, including Georgia Democrat Sanford Bishop plan to send a letter to the Kenyan ambassador to reconsider the arms purchase. The letter has been exclusively obtained by Breitbart News.
“We ask that the Government of Kenya take these facts, in particular the prospect of an ongoing congressional investigation of this sale, under consideration as it decides whether or not to proceed with this arms purchase.”
The major issue with the arms sale is that it listed L3 as the “sole-source” for the contract meaning they are the only ones that can make the planes, but that isn’t true according to Budd.
IOMAX USA Inc., a North Carolina company, claims they could build the 14 planes for only $237 million. Saving the Kenyans almost $200 million.
In order to stop the sale, Congress must vote and pass a resolution of disapproval.
The news of the arms sale wasn’t part of the corporate media’s reporting on January 20th. Instead they focused on Obama commuting the sentences for over 200 people including Bradley Manning.
BREAKING: @POTUS has now commuted the sentences of 1,715 men and women, more than any president in history. https://t.co/3NRkJnCEy4 pic.twitter.com/j7gCdigJqD
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) January 19, 2017
They focused on the $500 million grant to the UN Green Climate Fund, but they didn’t report on $418 million in arms sales to Kenya.
CNN didn’t report on Obama’s last minute arms sale, but they did focus on a different side of Obama.